The Fabrication Lab provides access to equipment and related resources for the production of scale models, mock-ups, and other physical prototypes made from a variety of materials. To learn more about the available resources and how they may support your interests, we welcome you to visit or contact us.
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Our Operating Model
The facility is staffed by about 80 GSD students (80% of whom are M.Arch I students) and 4 professional staff who are available to support users across 72 hours each week, including some night and weekend hours. We perceive of the facility as an extension of the studio and classroom learning spaces, operating as a facility within which users are enabled to make direct use of equipment, rather than operating as a service. Access to the spaces and equipment requires completion of online safety training. All other instruction related to the application of equipment and material use is either delivered in (your) courses or acquired informally through peers, course- or project-based consultation with Lab staff, or online content either generated by students and Lab staff or available to the public at large. We are available to develop and deliver instructional support to meet course needs, if given adequate notice.
Planning Course Schedules
Coincident course deadlines around midterm and the end of the semester cause significant resource constraints that impact students’ ability to complete assigned work. In an effort to provide an equal opportunity to access the resources, we observe limits that prevent individuals from monopolizing available equipment time. These limits and the demand-based resource constraints can prohibit students from satisfying course deliverables. Faculty are advised to plan course deliverables such that students develop experience relevant to representing and testing their design ideas throughout the semester, and to avoid creating a scenario where work in the Lab takes place only at midterm and the end of the semester. When reasonable, work requiring use of the Lab should be completed early in the semester, such as shared studio site models.
Planning Course Deliverables
Faculty leading courses that require use of the Fabrication Lab should consult with Lab staff before the start of the semester to evaluate the assigned work as it relates to needed materials, technology, time, and space. Slight differences in scale, size, materiality, and other dimensions can limit the options available to students and further constrain their access to the resources needed to complete assigned work. Not only should the final dimensions of a given work be considered, but also the space required around the work while in progress and the location for that work to take place. Students enrolled in studio courses are often limited to the space of their desk for all preparation, storage, assembly, and finishing; those not enrolled in studio courses may not have access to any dedicated space equivalent to that. If a significant amount of space in excess of either is needed for require course activities, faculty should consult with Facilities as to whether suitable space can be made available. The inclusion of all details relevant to physical deliverables in course syllabi and related documents greatly benefits our ability to assist teaching staff and students in their academic pursuits.
Required Training
Access-to and use of any aspect of the Fabrication lab requires completion of online training. Faculty are advised to include instruction to complete training in course syllabi and to account for the time required to complete the training as a part of the assigned work. Faculty should inform Lab staff of any students from outside the GSD who have enrolled in their courses. These students are less likely to have already completed required training and must be added to access systems before they are able to enroll and make use of the Lab. Any delay in this process may impact the ability of students to complete course deliverables in a timely manner. At least 4 hours is a reasonable estimate of the time needed to complete all required training (although access to some areas of the Lab require completion of only some components). Access systems are updated twice, daily.
Evaluating Student Work
When evaluating the work created by students in the Fabrication Lab, faculty are encouraged to consider a number of factors that cause inequities students cannot independently overcome. Not only do students have different prior experience and access to the financial resources needed to acquire materials, individual learning and employment history while at the GSD can lead to significantly different abilities. Unless instruction related to making has been offered within your course, it should not be assumed that they’ve obtained relevant instruction elsewhere (nor have access to such). Student employees of the Lab have access to additional instruction that allows them to do more with the available resources, they often have access to those resources outside of the operating hours to which other students are limited, and they may be able to bypass administrative controls that otherwise limit the amount of work students are able to complete within a given period of time. All of the above is especially true in Options studios where students from different degree programs and years of study at the GSD are engaged in a common design prompt alongside one another.
Relevant Policies
Because fabrication activities have a direct impact on health and safety, with the potential for both fatal and chronic outcomes, there are policies that restrict the materials and processes permitted at the GSD, including the responsible disposal of waste. Faculty are expected to be aware of and support the observation of relevant policies, both by themselves as well as the students enrolled in their courses. Violations of these policies will be pursued as matters of misconduct that may result in disciplinary action.
Other Academic Use
We encourage all non-course-based use of the Lab by faculty to take place outside of the two academic semesters. Any work of this type must be pertinent to the work of the GSD and executed by individuals with an active role within Harvard University, typically as a currently-enrolled student, an employee, or another form of academic appointment. Inform Lab staff of any access needs outside the academic semesters, such as for course preparation, research, exhibitions, or other.
The Fabrication Lab is intended for the use of the faculty, staff, and students enrolled in courses at the Graduate School of Design pursuing academic work. Please see our Policies page for more information.